The contemporary AOR bands from mighty Sweden are always on the edge of modernity. I could name
DE VAN / DEGREED / ANGELINE and
MISS BEHAVIOUR among others to substantiate my theory!
Of course the style itself is a very reglemented genre, with a certain orthodoxy, a few essential elements and some obvious choke points –including the lyrics sheets, but when enough modernity and creativity is added you’re in for a surprise. That is clearly the case with the new upcoming
MISS BEHAVIOUR’s album, titled
“Double Agent”. Another surprising mix of contemporary recipe with archetypal ingredients such as soaring vocals and over the top chorus with huge Mutt Lange backing vocals (
“Magical Feeling”) wrapped in the now classic 80′s mood, with it’s typical synth layers and even a few Pomp overtones!
I loved their previous record
”Last Woman Standing”, and I had a manic obssesion to boast its merits here and elsewhere, as it was to me the perfect exemple of a criminally underrated album. This album reached my final top in 2011 .
This time again, the guys from
MISS BEHAVIOUR are doing the magic trick in the same perfect method displaying, with so much talent, their very own brand of Melodic Hard Rock (
“On With The Show” / “Edge Of The World”). Including colors from Pop, Prog and of course a massive dose of exemplar AOR (
“Double Agent”/ “Dancing With Danger”) unadulterated by the cynical spirit of the modern times, but still in coherence with the harsh reality (
“Cause Of Liberty”/”Corporation Arms”). Everything here is in the right line to run my AOR enthusiastic approval!
The closing number
“Silver Rain” is simply beautiful with its rich harmonies and its high profile structure, a ballad with an improved atmosphere without any cheesy or bubblegum issue. The bombastic orchestrations are utterly integrated…the best way to close this kind of album full of impressive melodies and harmonies.
I think that with this new
“Double Agent” the
MISS BEHAVIOUR guys are about to convince even the more scepticals AOR specialists that their musical talent is worth buying in the form of an essential little silver platter!